Donald Trump is so ignorant and illiterate that apparently his aides read their briefing notes aloud, to him, like he’s a child with no attention-span. So, I can be sure that – if he’s ever held a copy of a book – he probably hasn’t delved past the cover.
The US is in the process of reviewing its statuary. [pharyngula]
I’m looking at you, Barack and Joe. From Howard Zinn’s speech on “The Southern Influence in Politics” (1963)
If you look at the laws passed in the United States from the very beginning of the American republic down to the present day, you’ll find that most of the legislation passed is class legislation that favors the elite, that favors the rich.
All those histories of this country centered on the Founding Fathers and the Presidents weigh oppressively on the capacity of the ordinary citizen to act.
Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island’s beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:
If you study the actual workings of the justice system over the course of our history, it becomes clear that it favors the rich over the poor, the white over the black, the orthodox over the radical.
People who keep scorecards don’t really know what’s happening in the world.
It’s in times of war that freedom of speech is most endangered, and is most repressed. And we’ve seen this: the sedition act was passed in the period of near-war with France in 1798. People were sent to jail for criticizing the government during The Civil War, or were sent to jail for criticizing the entrance into World War One. And, so on, down to the present day.
When Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of The United States sold its millionth copy, there was a celebration in New York City. Zinn was there, as were others.